During January, 1862, the camp at Rolla was increased by the arrival of troops from Illinois, Iowa and Kansas, and it was evident that the spring was to open with another campaign. General Samuel R. Curtis arrived and took command, transportation was cut down as much as possible, stores were accumulated and sent forward as far as the Gasconade river, a cavalry division under General Carr was pushed forward, and by degrees the country was occupied to within fifty miles of Springfield, where Price's army was known to be in force. It was ascertained that McCulloch's army had gone into a winter camp at Cross Hollows, in Arkansas, and would probably move north in the spring to join Price, or in case of a Union advance would wait where it was until Price could fall back to that position.
Among the regiments that came to Rolla was the Ninth Iowa, which contained several officers and many men of the First Iowa, which had been mustered out of service after its return from Wilson's Creek, its time having expired. Its colonel, William Vandever, was assigned to the command of a brigade, so that the control of the regiment fell to its lieutenant-colonel, F. J. Herron, who had fought at Wilson's Creek as a captain in the First Iowa.
Jack and Harry were overjoyed to see so many of their old acquaintances, and at the request of Colonel Vandever the two youths were turned over to his care. They had made such a good record in their scouting services during their stay at Rolla, that Colonel Vandever, whom we will now call general, as he was shortly afterward promoted to that rank, decided to make use of them as scouts and orderlies whenever occasion offered. They were allowed to retain their horses, of which they had taken excellent care. The animals showed much attachment to their young masters, and evidently were quite reconciled to serving under the Union flag instead of the rebel one, beneath which they were captured.
Orders to advance were impatiently waited, and at last they came. Early in February the army of General Curtis moved out of Rolla with drums beating and trumpets sounding, and every indication of a determination to push on to victory. Sixteen thousand men, in the proper proportions of infantry, artillery and cavalry, composed the force which was to carry the flag across the borders of Missouri and into the rebellious state of Arkansas.
But before we follow the army of the Southwest and make note of its fortunes, let us briefly turn our gaze elsewhere.
CHAPTER XXII. A GENERAL ADVANCE—A SCOUTING PARTY AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
Careful students of the war did not fail to see that there was a systematic advance along the whole line from Virginia to Missouri during the early part of February, 1862. During the winter work on the gun-boat fleet had been vigorously pushed and many steamboats purchased or hired as transports. As fast as the ironclads were ready to move they were sent to Cairo, Illinois where the transports were assembled and vast amounts of stores had been accumulated. General Grant was in command at Cairo, and that aqueous town was a vast encampment. At the same time the army at Rolla had been strengthened, as we have already seen, and the movement of each force was practically simultaneous.
Nor was this all. From Washington the army moved into Virginia, and the checkered campaign of 1862 began. Then a fleet and an army went down the Atlantic coast and captured New-Berne, North Carolina, and farther down the coast there was an aggressive move against Charleston. Then at the mouth of the Mississippi a fleet of war ships appeared, backed by a fleet of transports carrying a land force ready to occupy and hold whatever the fleet secured. In Kentucky the Army of the Ohio occupied Bowling Green, and prepared to move upon Nashville.